FEMA 453 Design Guidance for Shelters and Safe Rooms

m Territoriality (promotes a sense of ownership). The use of
physical attributes that express ownership such as fences,
signage, landscaping, lighting, pavement designs, etc. Defined
property lines and clear distinctions between private and
public spaces are examples of the application of territoriality.
Territoriality can be seen in gateways into a community or
neighborhood.
Shelters should also be located outside areas known to be floodprone,
including areas within the 100-year floodplain. Shelters in
flood-prone areas will be susceptible to damage from hydrostatic
and hydrodynamic forces associated with rising flood waters.
Damage may also be caused by debris floating in the water. Most
importantly, flooding of occupied shelters may well result in injuries
or deaths. Furthermore, shelters located in flood-prone areas,
but properly elevated above the 100-year flood elevation, could
become isolated if access routes were flooded. As a result, shelter
occupants could be injured and no emergency services would be
available.
Where possible, the shelter should be located away from large
objects and multi-story buildings. Light towers, antennas, satellite
dishes, and roof-mounted mechanical equipment may be
toppled or become airborne during blast, hurricane, tornado, or
earthquake events. Multi-story buildings adjacent to a shelter may
be damaged or may fail structurally due to natural or manmade
hazards. When these types of objects or structures fail, they may
damage the shelter by collapsing onto it or impacting it. The
impact forces associated with these objects are well outside the
design parameters of any building code.
There are several possible locations in a building or a house
for a shelter. Perhaps the most convenient and safest is below
ground level, in a basement. If the building or house does not
have a basement, an in-ground shelter can be installed beneath
a concrete slab-on-grade foundation or a concrete garage floor
(typically would be used as a single-use shelter). Basement
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